The War of the Worlds

HG Wells' perennially popular, and never out-of-print, 1898 science fiction novel, depicting a sudden invasion of the English heartland by highly intelligent and coldly malevolent creatures from Mars, and the rout of human resistance before the invaders' superior technology. The novel has been many times adapted for other media, including Hollywood movies, and the legendary 1938 radio presentation by Orson Welles.